A king & his ‘Kingdom’
LAST year David Oyelowo, who’d been in “Selma,” said: “Reporters mispronounce my name.” Later, doing “Othello” with
Daniel Craig, he said: “I trained. Worked hard. I used self belief.” Now, hyping his star turn in “A United Kingdom,” reporters are scratching to interview him.
Now it’s a designer threepiece woven suit with vest, tie, hanky, boutonnière and matching velvet shoes. “Dolce and Gabbana,” he said. Well, I figured it ain’t Gap. “Custom-made so certainly no loaner and not going back and definitely mine to keep since they made it for me.”
Like time, oy! has Oyelowo marched on.
About this success: “With Nigerian descent I never thought I’d be a big name. It was not what I anticipated.”
About producing this true story of Botswana’s late almost King Seretse Khama, who married a white lady as did Oyelowo himself: “Producing means using every skill you possess. It’s tough but I felt passionately about the story.
“My wife, Jessica, and I, teenagers in school together, hardly thought this would happen to us and now she’s worked on this film with me. We have four children. Being away from them on location was the hardest part.” Rosamund Pike, this Forevermark-hosted premiere’s leading lady, was in short gorgeous definitely not for keeps Giambattista Valli: “Shooting was exciting in Botswana. In one scene the local ladies as a gesture of acceptance presented us flowers and gifts. Not part of a script, it was just their token of friendship and was extremely moving. Of course, since the cameras were on, it ended up getting included in the film.
“We worked consistently. No time to shop. I bought only one little basket.”